


They used to shout my name, now they're whispering

by 1000lux



Series: A Crown for a Beggar [5]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: ...and no they're not the ones from the series, Breakup, Dragons, F/M, M/M, Meereen, Yunkai, basically viserys is agonizing over his two guys, but also othe stuff happens, conflicted viserys, drogo makes a choice, more moral conflicts, oberyn-surprise-visit, oh god have i been conflicted about this chapter, reigning a city, season 5, sibling power, the dragons get names, this is a pretty dark part, uprisal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 13:47:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6857482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000lux/pseuds/1000lux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Viserys arrives at Meereen, ready to take the city. Take it he will. But he'll also learn that there's more to being a ruler than just conquering. For the first time Viserys finds out what it actually means to take a city and stay there instead of just moving on. And taking a city doesn't mean you'll keep it.</p><p>But these days, his thoughts are occupied by a quite different matter anyway. There's still a choice to be made. By Dany. By Drogo. And if he's honest with himself, also by him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They used to shout my name, now they're whispering

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything! Neither characters or story from the books nor the TV series!
> 
> First of all, a big thank you to everyone who kept commenting and asking me to continue (I always intended to continue, it just took a while longer this time :b)! And also a big apology for the long wait! I basically couldn't continue writing, until I had figured out a few things about the continuation of the story. More precisely about things with Viserys, Drogo and Daario.
> 
> The name of the story is from Yellow Flicker Beat by Lorde, which is a song that reminded me strongly of Viserys and followed me quite a while during my writing process, both in this part and the next one.

I know that you was wrong, but life is moving on  
So get it together, cause now anger is your pleasure  
And that anger is a tether that fit you for too long  
Now you think it makes you better, cause you think it made you strong

Keeping your head turned around on the past  
With the role that you cast  
With her as the villain and you who came in last  
It's time to wake up

And the anger that you feel is making you just fine  
Turning a blind eye to the one that you survived with  
And kept you sane through all the heartache and the pain

Open your eyes, love  
Cause you been sleeping  
It's getting hard to bear  
Watching you all alone

(School of Seven Bells - Open your eyes)

****

Viserys sits on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. That's where he has to go. Finally. Not long now and he will reach  
the shores of Westeros. And they shall tremble.  
He lazily strokes one of his dragons, while the other two play in the sky. They've grown so much. They are legitimate  
beasts now. 

They come flying back, having hunted some kind of deer. They start fighting over the carcass. He tells them to stop.  
They don't react. When he touches the one closest to him, he turns around giving him a hissing growl, teeth bared.  
Viserys is stunned for a second.

"Did you just bare your teeth at me?!" He asks outraged.

The dragon lowers his wings, getting into a cowering position and looks ashamed. The others too have fallen silent,  
one of them dropping the limb he was just feeding on. They look like scolded schoolboys. As much as a dragon is able  
to.

"Well, I'll let it pass just this once." Viserys tells them, mollified. 

The dragons pushes his head back into his lap, crooning, happily.

"Yes, yes, I love you too." Viserys patts the scaled head.

"Why do I never hear you tell that to me?" Daario asks, dropping onto the stone beside him. The dragon gives him a  
warning growl, which Daario returns.

"You've probably done nothing to deserve it."

"I'd say different after my performance last night." Daario gives to consider.

"Not in front of my dragons." Viserys exclaims mock-outraged, punching Daario on the arm.

"You add a whole new dimension to the term 'sucker-punch'."

"How am I supposed to take that?"

They both start laughing.

****

"Dear Viserys, I hope you're well. Words of your conquest in Yunkai have crossed the Narrow Sea and spread even down to Dorne. I'm currently at Essos, before I will make my way back to Westeros to attend the Royal Wedding of the incest king. Also it might be of interest to you, that the King in the North has been betrayed and murdered while attending another wedding." The letter reads, "I would sure like to see you again, before I leave, it's been quite some time. I remain yours in friendship and respect, Oberyn."

Viserys writes back a letter of his own, "My dearest friend, find me at the city of Meereen, which will be mine by the time you arrive. We have important things to discuss, now that the day of our revenge draws nearer than ever. I hope to see you soon, Viserys."

It kills Viserys to just sit here across the Narrow Sea, knowing what is going on in Westeros, having to wait, having to be patient, because striking too soon could ruin all he has fought for so far. He is after all The Breaker of Chains, even if he has had little to do with it.

****

"How long till Meereen?"

"Not long." Jorah responds.

=This won't be an easy battle.= Grey Worms says, eyes on the horizon.

=I know. There won't be easy ones from here on.=

****

He's about to tell his Unsullied to leave the crosses standing after they've taken the corpses off –as he has further use for them, once they've taken Meereen– when his sister's voice sounds.

"Leave the crosses. We will need them."

****

»I'm leaving you, my moon and stars.« Daenerys says it without warning, voice without anger, just acknowledgment. »Whether it will be for now or forever is yours to decide.« She stops him before he can open his mouth. »And I want you to think about your answer long and hard. Decide wisely. There's no longer any reason to pretend there isn't a decision or that the decision will be easy. And when you decide, your decision will be exclusive. It is nothing more than I deserve, what my brother deserves.« A sad, hopeful smile appears on her face. »If you decide for me, I will be yours. If you choose my brother, we will stay a family. It's not our son I'm holding ransom here. Just my heart.«

She says it all so bravely, daringly. So strong and beautiful. And it hurts him to see her hurt, even more by his hand. And nevertheless, he can't speak when he tries to. Instead he watches her leave the room.

****

The Meereenese nobles don't hide behind their city walls, that's an improvement.

"What does he say?" Viserys asks.

"He says that you have an army of men without men-parts and that you yourself are lacking them too. And that he's  
going to fuck you up your cunt." Missandei answers embarrassed.

"How crude." Viserys eyes the Meereenese champion unimpressed. "So..." Viserys waits for further explanation that doesn't come. "What point exactly is he trying to make with that?"

"They have a champion that will fight one of your warriors for the hold over the city."

"I assume I have a champion too." Viserys looks meaningful into the round of people standing around him.

"Let me kill him for you." Drogo says urgently, stepping forward.

"That's hardly the place for the husband of my sister." Viserys answers.

Drogo looks as if he's been slapped.

"I'll kill him for you." Naharis says, grin gleeming widely.

"You do that." Viserys smiles, "And don't bore me."

Naharis kills the horse and the rider within moments. So fast, it's hardly worth the effort for Viserys to sit down on the chair Missandei procured from somewhere. When Daario pisses on the ground around the slain warrior, Viserys walks up to him. Unable to hide his amusement.

"Now, this wasn't exactly to my taste, but I assume it will do for these barbarians, since they seem to enjoy such crude displays of superiority."

Naharis turns around grinning.

"You break my heart, when I was trying so hard to please you."

 

"I don't know if I misunderstood something, but it looks like they are returning behind their city walls." Viserys says, one eyebrow raised.

"They're not honoring our agreement." Grey Worm states.

"No shit."

****

Viserys comes into Daario's tent that night.

"My, my, such high company in my humble tent," Daario laughs over the rim of his cup of wine. "You want me to get up and bow?"

Viserys smirks in return. "How about you get up and get on your knees?"

"Just as well."

****

She is the mother of his child. His wife. But they didn't get here for nothing. It obviously isn't that simple a decision. Drogo rakes a hand through his now shorter, unbound hair. No, not simple at all.

He doesn't want to disappoint Viserys.

What if he'd see Dany with another man?

****

"I bring you freedom. I bring you safety and justice. I bring equality. For you will all be equal under my reign. You all have heard of me by now, no matter your masters trying to hide it from you. You have heard good and you have heard even more bad. The insane king who conquers one city after another. Who leaves destruction and death. Who kills for the sake of it and seeks disproportionate revenge. Yes, I have killed the nobles of Qarth. I have killed the Undying. I burned the masters of Astapor, just as I raked destruction over Yunkai. The deaths I claim aren't arbitrary. Yes, I take pleasure in the people I kill, just as any other takes pleasure in a justified kill. I kill for revenge. I kill for peace. I kill for justice. I will kill for you. For all of you. Meereen will fall. I will break the knees of this proud city that deemed itself above law and decency. The masters will fall into the dust as did the ones before them. From the ashes of their bones I will raise a new city. A just city. A city that offers a life to all it's inhabitants, not just the ones who happen to have money or an old name. Look at your masters. Are they not made of the same flesh as you? Do they not get sick and die the same as you? Turn against them and you will see. Open those gates for me and I will let them die for you."

 

"Was that inspiring enough?" Viserys asks Dany, when they make their way back to camp.

"It was perfect." She takes his hand.

"No way, that'll work." Viserys shakes his head, pressing her hand back.

****

"I've left Drogo." Dany tells him without warning, her face set and calm.

Viserys just stares at her with trepidation, as she walks towards him. She puts her arms around him.

"We're siblings. No one can separate us. Least of all some man." Some of the sadness lifts from her eyes, as she smiles at him.

"I'm sorry." Viserys says, not sure if he's ever spoken these words before.

"I should think so." She receives his words gracefully. "But I'm not some little girl. I am well aware that this is just as much Drogo's fault as yours. And I know he wouldn't have done this without good reason. And of all people he wouldn't have chosen you for some meaningless fuck."

Viserys looks at his sister, astounded at her foul language.

"And that's why I've left him. He is obviously not able to decide as it is. And he needs to decide. I will accept his decision."

Viserys is grasping for words now. "I... I never meant to... fuck this all up for you." He exclaims, lost.

"With all this," Daenerys waves her hand around, amusedly. "you mean, your having sold me over to a savage chieftain whose language I didn't even speak?"

"It all worked out in the end!" Viserys says, defensively.

"It did." Daenerys says, sternly. "Until you fucked my husband."

Viserys gapes at her. Dany starts laughing.

"Why aren't you angry?!" Viserys asks, bewildered.

"I think you suffered enough." She shrugs. She's not going to cry in front of her brother. She will do that, later. On her own. Viserys needs her strong now. Maybe more than ever. And she needs herself to be strong too.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh please, I saw you cry over him." She might lose her lover, she won't lose her family. That's what she has to remember.

****

"Daenerys has left Drogo." Viserys remarks conversationally, when he walks into Daario's tent. "She's given him an ultimatum to decide between the two of us."

Daario raises an eyebrow.

"Are you giving me an ultimatum too?" Viserys asks.

"No," Daario shakes his head. "I'm not going to do that. I'm going to wait."

"Because you're desperate?" Viserys asks.

"Because I'm confident."

"He might not choose me afterall."

"Who could be stupid enough to not choose you? You're beautiful. You're strong. You're witty. You're the most exceptional thing I've ever laid eyes on. And I will never leave you. Never betray you. Never let my eyes or my heart stray from you. Who could have had you once and ever yearn for anything else."

"Where did you learn those pretty words?" Viserys asks, touched beyond what he wants to show, beyond what he wants to feel. These are the words he'd longed to hear for so long. Forever. What he wanted Drogo to say to him. Now Daario says them to him. And there's, much unexpected, no regret for it not being Drogo. There's just a profound flood of gratitude. Replaced immediately by mistrust. Because no one has ever loved him. People have wanted him. But they don't love him. No one ever did. And even if Daario was the exception, it's too much. There's no way he can uphoald these promises. "Are you going to recite a poem next, which compares my countenance to the sun or the stars?"

Daario doesn't have to ask who hurt Viserys like that. He knows it. Life did. All those people who where there when Daario didn't know him yet. And Daario knows about the hurt life dishes out on you, when you are least able to defend yourself. When all you can do is yield and soldier on afterwards. And it hasn't broken either of them. Not him. Not Viserys.

"Maybe." Daario smiles. "I like poetry. You don't need it though. You shouldn't need anyone to tell you all that either. But anyway, I'll be here to tell you, if only, so you can needle me with disregard."

****

"Do you have anything to say to me?" Viserys asks Drogo as they cross paths outside his tent. He's angry. Not just irritated because Drogo didn't come to him himself. Not just scared because the choice is still with Drogo. But it isn't, is it? Viserys has a choice to make here too. No, he's also angry because of all the things Drogo put him through and still does. He's also angry with himself, because this isn't as easy anylonger as it's supposed to be. Because he doesn't know himself anylonger. Angry, because nevertheless, Drogo still means that much to him.

"Not yet." Drogo responds.

"Fucking coward! It doesn't work that way. You can't get back to me, once you've made up your mind."

"Oh really?" Drogo replies.

Viserys punches him then. Drogo doesn't even stop him, only grabs his hand when he pulls it back for the next punch. Drogo's free hand reaches out to stroke Viserys' cheek. Viserys bites Drogo's hand, then cranes his neck and kisses him.

****

The gates open. Just like that. One second he's in camp getting his army ready for the taking of the city, and the next second he's lord over Meereen. Because some people actually put store into some fancy words he said. No one prepared him that this could actually work. It has never before. He's never swayed people with words. Only with violence. He remembers his sister telling him that she doesn't believe he'll be a just king, not so long ago. For the first time it becomes possible that he might be the king people wanted Rhaegar to be. This means nothing, of course. It's just a city, it means nothing, it says nothing about how it will be once he gets to Westeros.

****

Many of the slavers are crucified along the road, where the children used to hang. It gives him some peace of mind. And it's nice to agree on something with Dany, for once.

Life is very short and unpredictable. And just as he's executing these men, who deemed themselves untouchable, here, like the ones before them, he'd nearly been ended himself. Not too long ago. A weak fool drowned in a pot of molten gold, burned by his own pride.

"If I had died that day, would you have mourned me, sister? It is hard to die unmourned."

"I would have. Not as I would mourn you now, but I would have nevertheless."

****

"The Meereenese are a proud people," Jorah warns. "You'll have to tread carefully here. They have traditions, customs. You can't trample all over that without expecting unrest."

"That's what you said of Yunkai too." Viserys shrugs. "If they want to stay a people, they better forget about pride."

****

Viserys gets up again, the tips of his hair brushing across Daario's chest. He grabs Viserys' arm.

"Don't go."

Daario leans up, his lips are on the arm he's still holding. 

"Please. Just stay."

****

"Who is that man?" Daario Naharis asks Drogo, eyeing the guest, suspiciously.

"I don't know." Drogo answers.

 

"May I introduce to you, Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne." He turns to his guest. "And this is my dear sister, Daenerys. These men are my three generals. Khal Drogo, leader of the Dothraki, Khal of The Great Grass Sea and my sister's husband. Daario Naharis, leader of The Second Sons. And Grey Worm, leader of The Unsullied."

"My, my, that's quite a collection you have here. A Dothraki khalisar, the most feared mercenaries in the known world and the greatest soldiers ever trained." Oberyn shakes his head, laughing. "Well, you surely content with nothing but the best." He turns to Daenerys. "And of course I've heard of you, my lady. I was already afraid, your brother might be ashamed of me, for he never introduced me to his friends and family."

 

"I know about Drogo, but that Daario Naharis guy was giving me strange looks all the time."

"He is, kinda, my lover."

"Kinda, huh? Does that mean, he'll kill me if I fuck you?"

"He might try, but that should it be worth to you."

Oberyn laughs. "I think I'll take my chances. I'm not entitely without prowess with the sword myself." They continue to laugh in easy silence, before Oberyn's face turns concerned. "How are things with Drogo?"

"Semi-unchanged."

"Is that better or worse?"

"I can't tell yet."

"What does the lover say to that?"

"What do I care?" Viserys replies, disgruntled.

"But you do seem to." Oberyn assesses.

"It's all not that easy."

Oberyn smiles widely at that. "Of course it isn't. That's why it's love."

****

"About the wedding. We have to tread carefully, Oberyn."

"I'm always careful."

"I don't mean careful in the sense of poisoning your sword blade. I mean careful in the sense of not dying. As much as the prospect of marrying your sister makes me ecstatic, I'd rather you'd still be there."

"You have my word, I'll be careful. But I will, and the gods may be my witnesses, kill Gregor Clegane. That is not up for negotiation."

"You're too involved."

"But you're not?" 

Viserys shakes his head, woefully.

"We've waited so long, my friend. We can wait a little longer."

****

Oberyn meets Grey Worm in the hallway. Grey Worm greets him formally.

"Just call me Oberyn, friend. You seem awfully formal for someone so close to Viserys."

Grey Worm acknowledges this, remaining in his military stance.

"With all due respect. I can see it in both of you."

Oberyn looks at him surprised.

"You're both letting your lifes get controlled by unreal needs, rather than controlling your lifes yourself. That is dangerous. To run blindly towards a destination without looking where you're going."

"I think–" Oberyn starts saying, slowly getting irritated.

"It would hurt him greatly should he lose you. The two of us are the only friends he has. The only ones he's ever had. Rather than avenging the family you've lost, wouldn't you rather be there to protect the family you still have?"

"Viserys told me you are a philosopher."

"Oh, that's not philosophy. That's common sense." Grey Worm allows himself a smile then. 

Oberyn joins in.

****

Viserys watches himself in the large mirror as he gets dressed. Stands there his hair falling freely over his shoulders. He thinks about what they see in him. Drogo. Daario. 

He gets what Oberyn sees in him. They are both reflected in each other. Two sides of the same coin, paid for with blood and pain and suffering.

He turns away from the mirror reluctantly, reminding himself that Daario is waiting for him. Well, he can wait a little longer. 

What does Daario see in him anyway? What does he like about him? Is it just his looks? But it isn't, he knows that. It's his rather questionable personality.

What have those two in common that pushed them both towards him? What do they share except a liking for Viserys and war? But maybe that is enough. What is it that made someone like Daario go for him instead of for his sister? And Drogo? He obviously can't decide. But that speaks more in his favor than in his sister's. How likely was it? Things starting between him and Drogo back then in the desert. Two people who passionately hated each other, finding together through circumstances. It's supposed to have happened now and then, sure. But how likely is it to happen to you?  
Drogo and him seeing something in the other they wanted to have. Getting to like the traits of the other they used to despise him for before. Trying to change for the other. Trying to make right by each other. All this happening despite the state Dany was in. Or maybe because of it.  
Riling each other up. Looking out for the other, despite not wanting him to see it.

And Daario? Who seems to blindly like everything about him. Who sees the bad things in him and loves them anyway. With whom love suddenly becomes something so simple, so comfortable. Where love suddenly isn't constantly laced with pain and insecurity. Daario, who's so sure about himself and about everything else too. Who's not scared of anything, least of all his own feelings.

Viserys hadn't calculated love in, for his life-plan. He had prepared for a political marriage to further his goals. Having someone for himself hadn't been planned for. And what for? Rhaegar and Lyanna had shown him what love would do.

****

"And these are my two advisors, Ser Barristan and Jorah Mormont." Viserys points out the two men from the balcony.

"Ser Barristan?" Oberyn's eyes go wide. "The man who led your father's King's guard. The man who let my sister and her children die?! How can you trust him?! How can you let him live?!"

"He's proven useful. But if it means that much to you, you have my permission to kill him."

 

"How could you let him do this?!" Daenerys screams, tears in her eyes.

"That is easy. Oberyn is a friend. Ser Barristan is not. He let Oberyn's family die. He let our family die! Oh, you're always so high and mighty, Dany. And care so little about the ones closest to you."

****

Daenerys is standing in front of where the corpse of Ser Barristan is laid out.

"At least let me bury him with honors." Dany says, choked out as if still close to tears.

"By all means, bury him whichever way you like." Viserys answers. He looks at the man laid out before him. "'Barristan the Bold' they called him. He crossed the Narrow Sea to serve me. He was a loyal friend. As, I am sure, he was to our father, before he let him and our family die."

****

"Drogo," Viserys greets him with a bitter smile. "Has my sister sent you, to contribute your personal piece of wisdom on the matter of my late advisor?"

Drogo shakes his head, bewildered. "No." He snorts then for whatever reason. "No, she hasn't sent me." He comes to stand in front of Viserys. "I have been thinking."

"Oh my, is this the talk where you tell me that we can still be friends?"

"I don't want all that happened in Qarth to be gone." Drogo says. "I don't want to lose that." That's what it comes down to. Too much has happened in Qarth. He can't take back the oaths he made in Qarth. And he doesn't want to. He didn't want there to be a decision. What bitter irony is it that it has come to this. Or is it really irony, or is it the way things are supposed to be? It wasn't supposed to happen. But it did happen. And it didn't for nothing. He's not doing Viserys justice there, not Dany and not himself. They are not fickle in there feelings, not in their allegiances either. It is easy to love Daenerys. It's not easy to love Viserys. But it's hard to stop loving him. Viserys is fierce, unpredictable, conflicted.

"Qarth was a long time ago and you don't have to feel obligated."

"Not that long ago."

"Is it pity?" Viserys asks. "Because poor Viserys has no one who loves him?"

"You have plenty people who love you."

Viserys circles Drogo, a look of distaste on his face. "And you count yourself among them?"

"I'm with you, Viserys." Drogo says very calm. "With you."

"It's not about a decision you make." Viserys says to Drogo. "It's a decision I make."

Drogo is too shocked to reply anything. Once more Viserys has proven that you can't be sure of anything with him.

Viserys is too shocked himself. It's not hurt pride, wanting to pay Drogo back a little. No. He realises now that he has to decide. That it's not that easy. Daario. What about Daario?

****

"What did he say?" Daario asks.

"Gods!" Viserys jerks around. "You make it a habit to lurk around my private conversations?"

"It's concerns me just as well." For once Daario's demeanor is grave. "What did he say?"

"It doesn't matter what he said."

Daario looks hopeful only for a moment. "So, you didn't choose him, but you don't choose me either. Are you afraid of a real relationship?"

Viserys flinches minisculely.

"Weren't you the one who said, you'd give me time?"

"I told Drogo, I'm telling you. I'm not going to share." He should be grateful, really. Chances were, Viserys might have come out of there, telling him that it was over. The one who should really be shocked by Viserys' indecision is Drogo. Nevertheless, Daario is hurt just the same.

"And I don't like to get pushed into a corner." Viserys returns icily.

 

Viserys finds a quiet moment for himself at takes a deep breath. Great. He feels like a complete bastard now. He managed to alienate both of them. But he needs some fucking time. Is that too much to ask? He needs to get his feelings straight. Shit.

****

"Would you still?" Viserys asks. The question is left unfinished, but she knows. She knows him. She knows him and Viserys hopes that the ghost of Barristan Selmy won't break what they have painstakingly rebuilt. And not Drogo either.

Pain and anger furrows Daenerys' forehead. "Yes. Viserys, do you think everything we build since that day is going to be destroyed by every mistake you're going to make?"

"Yes." Viserys answers truthfully.

"That is very sad."

****

They believe in his words, but what he gives to them isn't what they want.

"You want to return to a man who owned you?!" Daenerys asks the old man outraged.

Viserys listens to the tale of the old man about position and being too old to change with indifference and mild disbelief.

"You want to return to your old master?" Viserys asks, once he's finished. "By all means, return to your old master." He makes a waving gesture towards the door. "I don't give a damn."

Viserys watches the old man leave, as his sister stares at him in utter disbelief.

"The masters might take advantage of it, if you allow this." Drogo says, darkly. "They might force former slaves into agreeing to being sold again."

"Then we will have people to supervise such agreements and to check on the condition they live under. We could give these jobs to the free slaves who have nothing to do. And the masters will pay for it. Let's call it a slave-keeping tax." Viserys says. He'll let no one make a fool of him.

****

"I don't give a flying fuck, if they want to throw the gift I made them back in my face!" Viserys tells Grey Worm, or more precisely shouts in his face, once he's left the audience chamber. He slams the door of his liquor-cabinet shut.

"You are hurt." Grey Worm says. "But you have to accept that with giving them their freedom comes accepting that they use it by their own reasoning. You can free them. But you can't force them to be free."

Viserys chuckles weakly at that.

"I shouldn't care. It's of no concern to me. I'm just astounded by their stupidity." He shrugs.

"No. You're hurt because you wanted them to love you. And many of them do. Just as I and my brothers love you."

Viserys feels the urge to hug Grey Worm. He refrains from doing so.

"Look at it that way," Grey Worm continues. "If all, or only the larger part of them, shared that thought, the gates wouldn't have opened. You'll never be the king of all. You can only try to be the king of most of them."

"I won't try to be the king of anyone. I am king." He glares at Grey Worm. And then he thinks, fuck it, for whatever reason not? They can both need it. He pulls Grey Worm into a hug. The other tenses but then returns it.

When they part again Grey Worm is smiling. And Viserys feels like it too.

****

"What is he saying?" Viserys turns to Missandei. "Why has he that skeleton with him?"

"This is his daughter. She was taken from one of your dragons and later fell from the sky, your Grace."

"Tell him I am very sorry for his loss and give him gold." Viserys continues after a moment. "Tell him, this won't happen again."

Viserys gets up and leaves the throne room, before Missandei has even time to reply. 

"The audience is over!" Viserys calls in parting.

Drogo follows him out the room. While Missandei and Daenerys stay with the desolate man.

Drogo enters Viserys' room moments after him. Viserys has already poured himself a glass of wine.

"I need to collect my fucking dragons." Viserys states, looking out the window.

"You couldn't have known." Drogo tries to soothe, having seen enough to guess how deeply this affected Viserys.

"Yeah, of course not! They're just flying, fire-spitting monsters, but I couldn't have guessed!"

"It's done. Move on."

"Move on? Is that what you want me to do?"

"You're the one who made that decision. And I won't audition for your heart in front of that fool."

****

"You shouldn't be down with them, my Lord. They might turn against you, once they realise they're locked up." 

"They would never turn against me."

Jorah looks to Daenerys for help, but she just shakes her head.

 

"Ven, J, Tenny! Come on," Viserys calls his dragons. "Come on, my babies, be good."

Viserys sends his dragons into the catacombs of the castle. He follows them inside, while someone locks after him. He's not one-hundred-percent sure they won't turn against him once they realize they're trapped. But if his dragons turn on him, the only ones beside Rhaego, who believe him to be good, of whose love he can be truly sure, then he's not sure he wants to continue living.  
At first the dragons don't realize something is wrong. Then they start hissing and growling, shrieking in anger and panic. They come towards him, their mouths wide open, still releasing sounds that sound even more inhuman inside these hollow halls, though Viserys always found they sound more like the cries of an infant. Viserys goes towards his little babies, who aren't all that little anymore. Reaching out to them, despite snapping jaws.

"Shhh," he soothes, his hand eventually connecting with scaled skin, the smooth parts under their jaws. The dragons get even closer, settling down around him. None of them is trying to harm him. It's more like they huddle around him for safety, not understanding what is happening around them.

He sits there with his dragons, leaning against one of them, petting another.

"Yes, I know. You didn't know you did wrong. But this can't happen again. No people. Unless I tell you so."

They're not monsters, slaying without reason, driven just by instict. They are capable of love. Just like him. They can learn. They can learn to adjust. They're not monsters. Just like he isn't.

****

"I don't even know how to begin to train them," Viserys states desolately. "I guess it's on me that I failed to do so. I just thought they'd always listen to me."

"That's what all parents think." Dany answers.

****

"It is said you no longer have control over your dragons." The Meereenese noble smiles at him, sharkishly.

Word travels fast, indeed. Of course, the absence of huge flying creatures circling over the city is hard to miss.

"The situation is under control. There is nothing to worry." He gives the man a poignant look. "Or is there? Are you aware of a threat that escaped my notice?"

"Of course not, my lord." The Meereenian inclines his head with a false submissive smile on his face.

»What's his name again?« Viserys asks his sister.

»Hizdahr zo Loraq.«

"I want the happiness of my people, Hizdahr. As any good king should. You will, of course, immediately inform me, if there's discontent among my beloved citizens."

"I will."

****

"You know what that means, right?" Daario asks. "A dragon-king without dragons is no king at all."

Viserys snorts, bitterly. "Oh, I know. I know. Let's hope my Unsullied can beat them into submission anyway." He falls silent, looking wistfully off the balcony to the main plaza in front of the palace. "I'll need you," Viserys says. "No matter, how this plays out." And they both know he's not talking about Meereen here. "More than ever. Slaver's Bay was only the start. I won't have an easy reign. Not here. Not in Westeros. Would you be willing to stay with me?"

"I'll stay with you until my death." Daario answers without hesitation.

Somewhere along the way he's found someone. Someone who'd leave him heads on the floor as presents. Viserys has to smile at the memory. He knew then he'd sleep with him. He hadn't expected he was going to make it that easy for Daario, though.

"You make me smile when there's seriously really nothing to smile about. With you I don't have to be strong or even witty. But, I guess, there's a limit even for you, till where I can push you."

"Not yet."

****

»I want you to trust me. I want you to rely on me.« Drogo says, face tense with what could be pain or irritation.

»How am I supposed to trust you?« Viserys asks, laconically. »And for the rest, I do rely on you. Very much as it is.«

Drogo laughs, dry and without humor.

»I don't mean rely on me as a resource. Not my army. I did leave Dany for you. Not to not have you.«

»What is this then?« Now there's derision in his voice. »An ultimatum? These seem to be going around these days. Will you go running back to Dany, if I don't swoon at your feet?«

Viserys feels like he's been caught on the wrong feet and hasn't quite been able to get his balance back. He's not used to Drogo talking like this. Their conversations usually have the easy air of neither taking the other quite serious.

»Don't mock us, Viserys,« Drogo shakes his head. »I want you to let me know when you're hurting. I want you to let me hurt those who caused it. And if there's nothing to be done, I want you to let me hurt with you. Because I will anyway.«

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Viserys falls back into his native language, caught by surprise, his eyes going wide. "Now, you tell me this?!"

It didn't happen immediately and it didn't happen peacefully. His feelings for Drogo had gone deep and held on tight to the battlefield they'd made of his insides.  
But at one point he'd fallen for Daario. The man who was far too good to just be a distraction from Drogo. Who'd wormed his way into his heart. With persistance and heartaching honesty.

He can't get back to the feeling. There's still a lot there. But now it hurts more than it heals. And it doesn't even hurt this much anylonger. Doesn't feel as necessary.

Just like his crown. He's fought for Drogo so long. And now that he could have him back, he realises it's not him he wants anylonger, but the man who's been throwing himself at Viserys' feet since they first met. He loved Drogo. With more than he ever thought he could. But now he loves Daario. The man who never strayed from him. Never requested him to be anything, to do anything. Who showed him that love could be anything else but feral, violent and painful. Who found it in himself to make the world a little more beautiful around him. Who was there to cure the bigger and smaller pains of Viserys. Who heedlessly and unnoticed worked at fixing the little cracks instead of creating more.

"Maybe Qarth is just over. Maybe we can't recreate the feelings we had back then."

"But I want to." Drogo says.

"So do I. But I don't think we can."

"It shouldn't be this hard. This complicated."

It was all easier in Qarth. There all the lines were defined. Not just because Dany was out of the equation back then. No. Because, ironically enough, the worst hurts hadn't been exchanged yet.

Maybe it is over. Viserys bites the inside of his mouth until he draws blood.

****

Then things get worse. As if their position hadn't been weakened enough. Word seems to travel fast. Too fast.

Qarth doesn't rebel, of course not, he drove that message home clear enough. The bastards in Yunkai though, sincerely believe that hiring a few mercenary companies will save them from his wrath.

"The second I'm gone they decide to turn on my appointed regents. That's regrettable. Really regrettable. Daario, take your men and march for Yunkai."

"Finally." Daario smirks.

"What if Qarth rebels next? You can't distribute your army on three cities. Especially not now. The nobles in Meereen won't miss your troops thinning. They will seize the opportunity. Now, with your dragons gone." Drogo warns. "Don't let your pride destroy everything you build. Yunkai means nothing. Neither does Meereen. We should move on. You took what you needed from these cities. You said it yourself, this is only the next stepping-stone to Westeros."

"I've built more along the way than a name and an army." He looks out the window to the place where the giant, golden goddess used to stand, which by now has been melted down and molded into a golden statue of Viserys and his dragons, larger than life. Triplet to the versions left behind in either of his cities. "None of my cities will fall. You will leave immediately, Daario."

Daario gives him another satisfied smile, before he leaves the room in stride.

****

"This is a mistake, Viserys." Drogo says. "You can't rule the world. You have to choose."

"No, I don't. I don't."

****

Word from Daario reaches him a week later. 'There are too many. We need reinforcements.'

"Grey Worm. Take all you can spare from keeping the city. Meereen has the priority. Once you're gone there mustn't be even the slightest chance of a mutinity breaking out."

"Of course. I won't disappoint you."

****

Daario returns himself this time.

"I'm sorry. We lost Grey Worm in the field. Before he arrived, Yunkai had received new legions from New Ghis. Retreat was all we could do, to not lose all our men."

"No!"

"I'm sorry."

"Out. Out!"

****

"You should have listened to me. Not him."

"I can't deal with this, Drogo! Both of you! I can't deal with this right now!" The grounds been ripped right out under him. He's still reeling. Too much went wrong too fast. Grey Worm is gone. Just like that. Ripped from him without warning. Because he played at being king. Because he hadn't calculated. Had underestimated. Hadn't listened.

"I'm sorry. You don't. Okay? You don't have to choose. I'm here. I said it. No matter what. And it's not your fault, what happened. People die. That's just the way it is. But we'll make sure that we'll avenge them. With blood and tears and more death."

****

"Do you know what that means, Dany?! While I was busy to decide which dick I wanted up my ass, my best friend died out there. For me! Because he thought, I knew what I was doing."

****

"I'll go." Drogo says. "I'll take back your city. With him and his men." He nods at Daario. Cease fire for now. For Viserys. They both know it.

"No."

"What?" He looks at Viserys, confused.

"No. I won't send you in there, so you can fight a losing battle and die too. I have another resort still." Viserys gaze goes into the distance, to the sky, as if he's looking for something that isn't there. "It is time to let my dragons out. Vengeance. Justice. Tenacity. Yes, it is high time I let them out."

****

Drogo is shocked when he sees them, he'd forgotten how large they'd already gotten. He hasn't seen them ever since Viserys had them locked up. He knows Viserys has visited them during there captivity in the catacombs, but he feels great unease when he sees Viserys approach them. He doubts that the Unsullied with their spears could do anything to reign in those beasts.

Viserys makes a growling sound in the back of his throat. The dragon in front of him, Drogo can't tell which one it is, lowers his head. And Viserys puts his cheek against the scaled skin of the beasts mouth.

Viserys turns around, smiling at Drogo. "Help me up." 

Drogo is taken off guard. "What?"

Viserys jerks his head towards the dragon, before repeating more slowly. "Help. Me. Up."

Drogo approaches the dragon with great caution. He hopes they remember him from the days they were still as big as a lizard. The dragon growls a little, but Drogo isn't sure if that's a bad thing, it seems to do little else. He grabs Viserys by the hips and lifts him up. Viserys grabs for leverage on the scaled skin and puts a foot where the wing meets the rest of the body. Then he's seated.

"Very well, I think we have a battle to fight."

The first dragon takes off. The other two following behind.

Daario gives the troops the sign to march, just as Drogo does with his Dothraki. Then they follow behind the path set ahead in the sky.

****

He arrives at Yunkai as he always imagined arriving at King's Landing, on the back of a dragon. The streets are painted with the blood of his men. That's unacceptable. But despite everything Drogo said, it was necessary. He can't back down. Not just once. And he'll have Yunkai back, or he'll die here. It doesn't matter what state Yunkai will be in, once it's his again. He's paid dearly enough for this piece of soil, surrounded by walls, that doesn't mean half as much to him as the man who died here for him. Yunkai only means as much as the times his name is spoken because of what he's done here. Only as far as his name will spread because of this.

He lands on the the main plaza in front of the high castle. He looks at the disfigured remnants of the statue, his face lying in the dust, severed from the rest of it. Shards of it hacked away with axes. Rise and fall, Viserys thinks. Rise and fall.

The self-appointed leaders face him, armor-clad and surrounded by soldiers. They don't attack yet. Neither does he.

"We didn't expect you to come yourself." One of them tells him smiling.

"You killed someone who was very dear to me."

"We can only hope you came to claim his body, for we are not willing to receive anymore empty threats from you, nor weak promises. There will be no compromisses made today."

"I have been known for selling promises to people," Viserys tells, wistfully. "Promises I had no means fullfilling. But I can assure you that you will receive no more empty promises from me. I will kill you. I will kill all of you. And I will start with your children."

"Ambitious words for someone who's lost half his army to us. You have dragons, but are they invincible? The last, inbread remainders of a nearly died out lineage. Just like you."

"What's your name?" Viserys asks the speaker of the traitors.

"Why do you want to know?" The man asks.

"So I can find your family and kill them."

"Oh, I'm sure you would do that." The man laughs. "But before you kill all of us, let me give you a greeting from some old friends of yours. They sent us the most remarkable gift. Do you know Gogossos, your highness? Nine out of ten men died. But whatever happened to the rest of them? Did you never wonder?"

"I had more important things to do." Viserys replies, despite having a bad feeling grow in his stomach. He realises now that they weren't just stupid enough to believe he wouldn't bring his dragons here in a situation like this. They had taken precautions. 

First he hears the rattling of chains. Then the rows of soldiers and mercenaries part and the creatures emerge between them. Larger than a grown man and wider by far. Some walking upright, some on all fours. He had heard of the flesh-pits. Women mated with animals. Stories to scare children. But seeing this now, would have any grown men scared.

One is covered in scales, much like his dragons. Empty, soulless eyes staring from a deformed face, the clawed hands and feet scittering across the floor. Another towers high over the other men. Shoulders as wide as four men, the arms roped with muscles, covered in a sheen of fur. Sharp teeth sticking out of the mouth and horns like an bull protruding from the skull. The next one seems to have a rather normal human body, but throat-upwards the skin turns into scales that lead to a large scaled head with a long snout that is filled with sharp teeth. Another alternated between walking upright and on all four and had the head of a boar, large tusks sticking out of it's mouth. Neither seems to be able of anything resembling normal human speech. Viserys doesn't know what would be worse, them showing remnants of their human roots, or just being instinct controlled animals.

His dragons are large enough to ride them, fair enough. But they are far from outgrown. And these... monsters, these monsters are nearly towering as high.

The last one seems to be a female. Her mostly humanoid body is covered in short fur, her arms and legs ending in paws with large claws. There are small, crippled, leathery wings on her back. Her head is covered in a mane and her distractingly human face bares fangs when she opens her mouth. She seems to be the most human of the lot, distinctly smaller than the others, until one of the soldiers stands too close to her and she rips his head off, tearing into the bloody remains.

The lords of Yunkai seem amused by this, rather than worried.

"Have you ever had nightmares, your highness? If you'll outlive the day, these will give you quite the inspiration for more, don't you think? One of these was mated with a dragon, you know."

"If that's what they told you, I'd demand my money back."

"Oh, we didn't pay a thing. Those are all curtesy from said friends of you. One could say you paid for them."

The dragon he's sitting on, Tenacity, tries to take flight, when suddenly a net of spiky metal is raised above them, leading from one tower to another. His dragon get's caught in the spikes, struggles and falls back to the ground.

"We've been preparing for your visit, your highness."

The thing with the horns, rams right into Vengeance. She is thrown over and they both land toppled on the ground. The soldiers start shooting arrows at them now. Tenacity is getting into a panic and Viserys tries to not get thrown off. Justice starts spitting fire at the soldiers, as the two scaled monsters charge for her.

****

"It's been too long already." Drogo says. The troops had been ordered to stay outside the gates until Viserys gives them sign to move in.

"Agreed." Daario replies.

"How did you get in the last time?"

"I'll show you."

****

He's lost the overview over the events. Tenacity is twisting and turning, no longer listening to his commands. He can't keep his footing anylonger and falls to the ground hard, coming straight to eyelevel with the lizard-thing. He would like to say that he sees something in those eyes. Some deeper understanding. At least malice. But he only sees the reflection of his own terrified face, in the black orbs.

A javelin hits the beast's clawed hand as it lashes out towards Viserys. The next moment arms grab him and he's dragged away.

"What on earth are these?!" Daario exclaims, even as he strikes to attack the beast again.

"Whatever they are," Drogo says. "We will kill them." He pulls Viserys back to his feet and advances on the creature, his scimitar drawn.

"We need to get rid of that net above us!" Viserys yells.

Viserys knows, he has absolutely no prowess in fight. And to be honest, he's never been quite that uncomfortably close to a battle. But then again, he's had his fights and he had his run-ins with death. He's not completely useless right now.

Five monsters. The net above them. The soldiers shooting at them constantly, with no way for his dragons to escape.

Vengeance is still fighting the boar-thing, both of them coilling on the ground exchanging blows with claws, tusks and teeth. Too close for fire. Drogo and Daario are fighting the lizard. Tenacity charges for the soldiers shooting at them, but is stopped by the lion-woman and the horned-beast. Viserys sees the other scaled-beast make for him, but it is intercepted by Justice stepping in front of him with a growl and a haze of fire. The thing snaps for her neck. Justice seems unbothered, though, by the long rows of teeth burrowing in her flesh, as she leans forward and rips right into the things body, tearing one arm right off. The thing bites down only harder. Viserys climbs atop of Justice, ripping out one of the arrows that have hit her. Then he rams in straight into one of the reptile-eyes staring at him, as far as it will go. The thing seizes a few times, the it hangs still, jaw still locked. Viserys, gets off her again, takes his sword, that so far he's been only wearing for show, and uses it pry open the jaw, until the dead body drops to the floor. The blood of his dragon drips on him from her wound.  
Viserys looks at his dragons and at his two lovers, all still locked in battle. He knows what he has to do now. He gets back onto Justice.

"Come on, darling." He soothes her. "Come on." He leads her away from the battle. Towards the city walls. The arrows of the soldiers follow them. Justice just ignores them, while Viserys presses close to her, to evade being hit himself. He makes her climb one of the buildings, getting up higher. Crawling up the walls. Until they reach the place he's been eying from the ground. One of the sides the net is bolted into the stone. His dragon throws the soldiers who try to stop them off the wall. He doesn't have to tell her what to do next, she knows. Close enough now she engulfs the metal fixtures in fire and Viserys watches as the metal slowly gives way, until the weakened material rips and the net starts to fall. She jumps onto what is left of it and crawls upwards to the next corner. Finally severed at two sides, the net collapses and Justice with it. She catches herself midway, rising again over the battleground until she's towering over the city wall. Viserys watches, as the men, along the wall, not that far away from him, at first try to keep shooting at her and then abandon their task and start running. Most of them don't make it though.

With the soldiers manning the walls burned within their armors, his remaining soldiers, waiting outside the city gates, are free to climb the walls. Viserys resumes his place on Justice's back, as his other two dragons begin to rise into the air as well.

****

When he gets back to the ground only one of the monsters is still alive. The lion-woman, lying on the ground, bleeding from her side. Drogo raises his scimitar over her head.

"Don't kill me!" The creature suddenly shouts.

Viserys stops Drogo's arm from coming down. Drogo's arm tenses, but he never takes his eyes of the thing, staring at it with even more horror in his eyes.

"It speaks." Viserys murmurs, in wonder. "Can you speak again?" He asks the creature. "What do they call you?" 

"Maneater."

The voice is light, like that of a young girl. A little bit defiant, below the fear.

Viserys knows monsters. And he knows monsters don't have to be ugly. Anyone can be a monster. A monster is sleeping inside of him. And he raised monsters. And often those, who don't even look it, are the worst ones. He should know.

"Alright, Maneater. I grant you mercy." 

He gives Drogo a sign and he knocks her out, with the blunt side of his scimitar.

"Tie her up!" Viserys orders two of his soldiers. "We're taking her with us!"

 

Now, though, he has to finish what he came here for.

He's lost Grey Worm already. His dearest, dearest friend. And due to his own arrogance, his own illusion of being invincible and having all the answers, he's nearly gotten his dragons killed, maybe even himself. The same kind of arrogance made the nobles of Yunkai turn against him. Caused this unnecessary battle that cost so many of his men their lifes. No one will turn on him again. He won't leave enough of them to remember them by.

"Kill them! Kill the nobles! Their families too! Burn their houses to the ground! Leave no one alive!"

 

It is a massacre. Blood is running down the streets like rain during the rain season. Ten times worse than what he did in Qarth. The common people hide in their homes, while the screams ring through the vast halls of the nobles, as flames lick up the walls of their mansions. Viserys lets destruction reign in the streets of the city. A vast tribute paid for taking his best friend. A death-offering as well as a giant wail, an expression of his immeasuarable grief. A city that bleeds to atone for the blood of one man, spilled in these streets.

Drogo steps through a puddle of blood, kicking away some cut off limb, before he leans down to wipe his scimitar on the elaborate gown of a fallen noble. He enjoys it. It would be lie to deny it. A lie he would have told Dany, that he hasn't to in front of Viserys.

Jorah watches it all with a sense of foreboding. He sees King's Landing burn, as Yunkai is burning in front of his eyes. He's seen Viserys unleash cruelty and great violence as a means to an end before. No matter his vanity or pride. As much as he'd enjoyed it, never before has Viserys let it become this personal. Just like his dragons, Viserys will set the world on fire. And Jorah can only hope that it won't be the end of them all.

****

It is when Viserys walks through the dungeons of Yunkai that he makes a unexpected discovery.

"Grey Worm!"

****

They return to his old rooms in the palace of Yunkai, for the night. The only building in this district that's still standing.

The city's secured. The injured are tended too. He's left Grey Worm in the care of his own healer. Finally the agitation has time to settle, for his pulse to turn back to normal, for his hands to stop shaking.

He's back in his rooms, when he throws up into a vase. Oh gods. What did he do? The women. The children. Everyone dead.

The door opens. He jerks around. Wiping his mouth with one hand.

Viserys glares at him, when he enters the room, despite looking pale as death, ready to faint, his hair in disarray.

"What about 'I can't deal with you right now' didn't you understand?" Viserys hisses.

"I don't think you need time." Drogo states, arms crossed. "I think you need company."

"Trust me, I'm in no state to fuck."

"Not here for that." Drogo shrugs, sitting down. Leaned back, arms still crossed, just watching.

"So, you're looking for a big revelation? For a breakdown?"

"Is that where you're heading?"

"Not sure about that yet."

"I'll stick around then."

Drogo watches him. Sits there and watches him. Until he gets up, gets over and sits down onto the bed beside Viserys, with a sigh.

Drogo leans in, brushing a hand through Viserys' hair, a fond smile on his face. "You'll be fine, you little son of bitch."

Viserys leans into the touch. "Your talking about my queen mother here." He chides, a smile on his face.

"Maybe we can both make it better with the decisions we make from now on."

"Maybe you can shut your stupid mouth and kiss me."

"Do you really want my mouth shut for that?"

Maybe Qarth is gone. And maybe they can't get back to the feeling. But maybe they can get to a new feeling.

****

He sits beside Grey Worm's sickbed, looking at the sleeping man. 

"What did I do, my friend? What did I do? Had you only been there, you could have called me to reason. But that's the problem isn't it, that you weren't there."

He puts a hand on Grey Worm's fever-clammy forehead.

"I've finally made the name my father had before me. People will remember Yunkai, no matter what good I might do after this." He thinks of the child who gave him the necklace and feels tears sting his eyes and desperation close up his throat. He wants to scream. "It can't be undone. No matter how I'd like to. And at the time, I didn't care. I honestly didn't care. It wasn't even about the city anylonger. I was hating myself for having caused your death. And I was hating them for having had me believe that this city had any value, any value more than your life. And I wanted them all to burn and to suffer."

****

Once things have settled down a bit, something that had drifted to the corners of his mind suddenly returns.

"Our special friends sent a message again." Viserys tells Drogo. "When they've gone from sending assassins to supporting my adversaries they mean business."

"Anyone could be supporting them." Drogo answers.

"Who do you know, who'd willingly wander in territory where both black magic and plague rule?"

"Who the fuck are you talking about?" Daario asks.

"The Undying." Viserys replies.

"I thought you had killed them."

"I guess I have to try harder the next time."

"Maybe we should get a warlock of our own." Daario gives to consider.

****

"What with the survivors, Viserys?" Jorah asks. "What with the common people? You left them a ruined city. A shell. Do you want them to die between the smoldering remains of those less fortunate?"

"You say it like they didn't deserve it!" Viserys cuts in, immediatelly on the defensive again. "Those nobles had it comming! Did I lay a hand on any of the slaves? Did I touch the common people?" He doesn't want to think about the people who got into the crossfire. Truth is, he has no means to say how many innocent people burned to death in their houses or were crushed by toppling buildings.

"They will die anyway, if you leave them now to starve."

"Then we will have to take them with us. Shall they find a new home at Meereen."

****

"You want to tag along hundreds of civilians? Peasants, who neither own horses nor know how to ride?" Drogo asks.

"What choice do I have?" Viserys replies.

"You could give them a merciful death or let them make their own destiny."

"I can't do that."

"You feel guilty."

"Is that so hard to believe?"

****

When they arrive back at Meereen, he doesn't talk to Dany about what happened in Yunkai. She'll know soon enough. And he can't honestly bring himself to talk to her about it.

He's scared. Deeply scared. Scared that he'll grow to like it. Just like his father did. That the horror and sickness will be gone at one point and he'll relish in the screams of the dying. Just as he did in the deaths of the noble families of Yunkai.

****

He visits Rhaego. He's alone, except for a few servants, playing in his vast room inside the palace Viserys has claimed inside the city of Meereen. Viserys kneels down beside him, playing with him with the little blocks of wood Rhaego's currently fascinated with.

"Hey, come here, little guy." Viserys opens his arms and Rhaego clambers eagerly into them. 

Viserys just holds him, for a little while, rocking back and forth, his chin resting on the childs head, feeling the little, warm weight against his chest. Rhaego calms him. He always does. When will Rhaego be old enough to judge him, to look at him with the same eyes everyone else does?

Rhaego pokes Viserys' nose with one of his stubby fingers. "Dra-gon," the boy says, gleeming proudly at his achievement.

Viserys presses a kiss to the top of his head.

"Yeah, we'll be fine."

****

Daario waits for him in his room, with a glum expression that promises nothing good. 

Viserys knew he couldn't push those two to and fro without one of them thinking better of it at one point. But he can't decide. Couldn't so far. And honestly it's not going to happen in the future either. It makes him a hypocrite. It makes him incredibly selfish. So basically, everything everybody already knows of him.

"I said I wouldn't share." Daario says. "That was a lie. And I said I am confident. That was a lie too."

Viserys pulls Daario close.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought about the names for the dragons for quite some while. The original names wouldn't have made much sense in this case. And just taking something like, Daenal, Aeral, etc... would have felt a little bland. I felt, like Viserys would choose something a little flashier.^^ So, there you go.
> 
> The creatures Viserys fights at Yunkai were inspired by this article: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Gogossos  
> I had a really hard time figuring out, how it would make sense that Viserys beat Yunkai with his dragons the first time, but would have a hard time the second time. But, well, I hope I pulled it off.  
> The one that survives was inspired by a medieval, mythical creature called Manticore, which translated means 'man-eater'.
> 
> All quotes used are taken from the asoiaf-wiki.
> 
> So, anyway, I hope I see you back for the next part! ( ˘ ³˘)♥


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